According
to Plato’s account in The Republic, in preparation
for reincarnation, each person chooses a daemon or deity that will
guide him or her through life.

According
to Greek thought in Plato's day, this guiding daemon accompanied
most people throughout their life as an unconscious
guiding force.

It
was generally thought that only a select few advanced souls, such
as the philosopher Socrates, were capable of actually conversing
and/or interacting with their guiding daemon.

Upon
choosing a daemon or deity, each person was then led to the spinning
wheel or spindle of the Greek goddess, Necessity. The spinning wheel
was sitting in the lap of Necessity.

This
is where it tends to get really interesting for those of us that
are astrology buffs...

Spinning
Wheel of Necessity
According to Plato, the spinning wheel or spindle of Necessity was
comprised of one outer wheel (the Zodiac) and then seven inner wheels
(the Sun, the Moon, and the five known planets).

In
Greek mythology and tradition, the goddess Necessity had three daughters:
Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos. The three sisters were together known
as the Fates. Lachesis
(meaning: she who allots) meausred the thread of fate, Clotho (meaning:
weaver) wove the thread of fate, and Atropos (meaning: implacable,
unbending, unyielding) cut the thread of fate.

In
Plato’s cosmological description, he identifies Lachesis as
having her hands busy with both the zodiacal signs and the planets,
Clotho with the zodiacal signs and Atropos with the planets. Also,
of interest, Lachesis is singing of the past, Clotho is singing
of the present, and Atropos is singing of the future. Each soul
approaches Lachesis first, then Clotho, and then finally Atropos.

Lachesis:
measured the thread (zodiacal signs and the planets) - past

Clotho: wove the thread (zodiacal signs) - present

Atropos:
cut the thread (the planets) - future

At
this point, I think I'll let Plato speak for himself:

“When
the souls had all finished choosing their lives, they approached
Lachesis in the order the lottery had assigned them. She gave
each of them the personal deity they’d selected to accompany
them throughout their lives, as their guardians and to fulfill
the choices they had made. Each deity first led its soul to Clotho
(zodiacal signs), to pass under her hand and under the revolving
orbit of the spindle, and so to ratify the destiny
the soul had chosen in the lottery.

Then,
once a connection has been made with her, the deity led the soul
to Atropos (planets) and her spinning, to make the web woven by
Clotho fixed and unalterable. Afterwards, the soul set
a fixed course for Lady Necessity’s throne and passed under
it…” Plato, the Republic translation by Robin
Waterfield (620e)
(Italics for emphasis and the words contained within parentheses
are mine.)